Dibrugarh (Assam), November 7: The death toll in Friday's explosion and fire at Oil India Limited's (OIL) Intermediate Tank Farm (ITF) in Tengakhat, in Assam's Dibrugarh district, has risen to two, PTI reported on Saturday. Engineer Tapas Jyoti Gogoi, who had sustained around 70 per cent burns, succumbed to his injuries at around 3 a.m. on Saturday at a private hospital, officials said.

Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine

Gogoi's death was confirmed on Saturday by Kamal Phukan, area manager of Spectron Engineering Private Limited, the company engaged by Oil India for work at the facility, PTI reported. Gogoi, a resident of N Gali in Milan Nagar, Dibrugarh, was among the six workers who sustained burn injuries in the explosion. The injured were initially taken to Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) in Dibrugarh and were subsequently shifted to a private healthcare facility. Gogoi had been working with the company for the past 13 years and is survived by his parents, his wife and a daughter, his elder brother said.

Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine

Three injured workers still critical

Three of the injured workers remain in critical condition, officials said. A total of nine workers were present at the site when the accident occurred on Friday, and seven of them sustained injuries, according to an official statement cited by PTI. The worker who died on Friday was identified as Raju Dutta. The other injured workers named in the first reports were Shailen Gogoi (45), Kumud Gogoi (38), Golap Dutta (58) and Indra Gogoi (40), all residents of Tengakhat.

Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine

Friday's fire erupted at around 9.05 a.m. during maintenance work at the tank farm, Oil India said in its statement. Preliminary reports suggested the explosion took place in the crude oil storage section while a valve was being operated during technical work; the exact cause has not yet been officially established.

Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine

Inquiry ordered; minister calls for best medical care

Oil India has constituted an internal inquiry committee to investigate the incident. The company's fire service brought the blaze under control on Friday. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the Lok Sabha MP from Dibrugarh, spoke by telephone with the Chairman and Managing Director of Oil India at the company's headquarters in Duliajan to take stock of the situation, urged that the best medical treatment be provided to the injured, and called for appropriate compensation for the families of those who lost their lives, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via DevDiscourse

What happens next: the injured workers who remain critical are being treated in Dibrugarh, and the findings of Oil India's internal inquiry — and of the district administration's investigation — are awaited for the cause of the explosion and fire to be established.